In search of slashed prices, we took the trek west to Woodbury Commons.

When BAZAAR.com caught wind via Instagram on Tuesday that a Céline outlet opened just an hour away at Woodbury Commons, our first reaction was, "What!?" followed by, "How soon can we go?". The answer quickly became sometime in the next 48 hours. The possibility of shopping Céline at outlet prices is not something we take lightly.

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Cut to this early morning, when our adventure west happened to occur on one of the coldest days of the year so far (with windchill taken into account), which is notable given the emergence of the term "polar vortex" in recent months. But luckily the freezing trek was not for naught. Here, 8 things we learned on our adventures in outlet power shopping.

1) Woodbury Commons Outlets looks like a high-fashion Disneyland, with mini, identical boutiques housing merch from all our favorite labels, all in perfectly manicured little rows. One almost expects fuzzy versions of your favorite fashion personalities to greet you. Is that a plushy Simon Doonan coming towards us? Not quite.

2) The Céline outlet, which has merchandise from the past two years or so, including pre-seasons, is magical but still quite pricey. Clothing is 50% off retail, with an additional 25% off, but the Intarsia sweater I had my eye on still came in at $750 and a perfect navy accordion pleated midi was about $650. A jacket will still be around $1,500. Bags are 30% off retail and shoes were an additional 30% off a marked-down price, but there was a very small selection.

3) Céline at a discount is not here to stay. We roamed over to Chloé where we found a outlet shopper's dream—a rack of goods at 90% off. It was also quite an informative experience. The ladies at Chloé were very helpful and alerted us to the fact that Céline is a temporary store front and will only be at Woodbury for 1 year. Since it opened at the end of January, to you, that's only about 10.5 months remaining. Fingers crossed for additional mark downs.

4) Those helpful Chloé employees are a great resource, as are all of the workers at the high end stores which include names like Marni, Tom Ford, Gucci, Balenciaga, Prada, etc. These ladies (and gentlemen) like clothes and are on the pulse of what's going down at the Commons. They also told us that a 90% off rack also existed at Valentino, but they weren't sure if it there was anything left. Sadly, there wasn't.

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5) We also learned that the best time to get the big sales are those crazy holiday weekends that you thought only people who used words like "door busters" participated in. We prefer our sales civilized, but for a rack of Valentino at 90% off, we'll see you on Memorial Day.

6) The Prada outlet is major. It's easily the biggest of the lot, has some great prices and great pieces that aren't necessarily memorable runway hits, so you can get your beautiful skirt without feeling so last season.

7) Raf Simons has hit Dior! The Dior Outlet that is. According to the also-helpful workers at Christian Dior, Raf's first season has entered the Upstate New York mecca and many of the standout runway pieces are there. They're very special, but still very expensive. A red, perfectly-draped day dress will cost you about $1,000, but if you have a special occasion I'd happily hit Dior up.

8) Saint Laurent also has very helpful employees! It too was full of runway standouts, like glittering baby doll dresses from the Fall 2013 runway finale, but at not-quite-steep discounts. A woman there told us that Black Friday is THE day to shop WCO, but that each individual store has its own sales, so make some friends and get on some lists. And also, she informed us that there is a new designer at Saint Laurent. Ed note: we didn't disclose where we worked while shopping the Commons.

The takeaway: We hit up 7 stores in one hour (it was a work day after all) and collectively walked away with one powder blue Prada button down that's the perfect poplin for the season and a pair of black and white wide leg Chloé trousers for under $100. All in all, a success. We'll be back, Woodbury.

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